Always By My Side
by wimseyfive87
Summary: A little AU moment from Girls Gone Wilder. Morgan and Hodges share a brief moment while looking at crime footage of the attack at the hotel. What if they were already dating at this point? Just plain Modges love.


_This story came about after watching the episode in season 15 when the girls are off having a good time at a CSI conference, when a bad guy shoots up the place. The scene between Morgan and Hodges reignited my Modges love for them. I wrote this little story as if they had already been dating for awhile. I know most fans are not Modges fans, but I adore them. I don't own CSI or CBS or any of that - this is just another little daydream about this could-have-been couple._

The picture froze on the computer screen. Morgan's beautiful face blown into pixels - afraid - no, terrified - as a crazed gunman shot up a conference room at the Mediterranean Hotel. A conference she, Sara and Finn had agreed to attend in the hopes of having a nice weekend away from work, punctuated by a few boring presentations. Instead, their moment in the sun had dissolved into a nightmare of terror.

"You know, when I heard what happened…I was so worried," Hodges said. He stood next to her, staring at the computer screen. They had been using a new computer program that could download cell phone footage instantly in the hopes of catching the gunman. For the moment, all it had done was catch a lot of terrified people, including Morgan.

"I'm just glad you're ok," he continued. She couldn't tear her eyes from the screen, as her mind relived those few minutes of horror that had felt like hours.

"It's out job to come into the crime scene after it happens, but when it happens around you-"

"Hey, Morgan," Hodges seemed so far away, calling to her from the other end of a tunnel. She shook, scared she would shatter into a thousand pieces. Her eyes welled with long unshed tears. Before she could crack, his arms were around her, holding her steady. She buried her head in his shoulder as her world slowly steadied.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," he whispered. "I wish I could take that from you."

Morgan nodded. The two had been dating quietly for weeks, afraid to let anyone at work know. Morgan didn't really mind - her feelings for Hodges were never far from her heart. She didn't a public declaration of their relationship to know that she loved him. But he had been worried how it would look to everyone else - all the hoops he had gone through for his Italian fiance that had come to nothing. He wanted to take things slow, cherish every moment before people at work found out. He didn't want colleagues picking apart their romance - gossiping about it in corners or over lunch tables - as they had when he had been with Elizabeta. Morgan thought he was secretly afraid of her father, the Sheriff, but she hadn't minded the secrecy. It had made things fun and slightly naughty. But after the crazy shootout - all she had wanted was to crawl into his arms, close her eyes and pray for the nightmares to go away. He had sensed all that and thrown away his previous doubts. She had never loved him more.

"I just can't get the pictures out of my head," she sighed.

"Morgan, I can finish this without you, if you want to go home,"  
"No, David, I need to do this," she said, pulling away from him. "Please, I need to do this. I need to find this guy. Don't send me away."  
He smiled sadly and wiped her wet cheek.

"It's going to be like this, isn't it? Watching you run headfirst into danger while I stand on the sidelines," he said.

"This doesn't happen every day, if it did-"

"I know - I just, I just have to get used to being worried, I guess. Like being married to a cop."

"We're not married yet,"  
"No, not yet. I just wish you could unsee some of the things you see every day. It's bad enough just going through the evidence on my end, but to see it first hand -"

"David, it's terrifying, but I think I'll be ok. I just need to work and I need you. Just hold me up so I don't shatter into a million pieces, ok?"  
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said and bent to kiss her. She kissed him back, putting as much heart into it as she could.

"Now, let's find this bastard," he said, as Morgan still held his hand. She forced herself to look back at the screen. The memories were still there, tickling the back of her mind, just waiting for an excuse to lash out. Morgan swallowed and pushed them back. She would not break - not now.

"Can you slow that video down, take it frame by frame?"

"Sure," Hodges replied and hit the button. Slowly Morgan's head moved out of frame as the door frame came into view.

"There he is!" Morgan cried. "That's the shooter."

"I'll run it through face recognition software," Hodges said. "Hopefully this guy's in the system."

As the program ran, Morgan looked at Hodges for a long time. A thousand words flashed through her mind, a thousand things she wanted to tell him.

"Thank you,' she said simply.

He looked back at her & smiled slowly. "You know I"m always here for you."

"I know," she murmured. A thousand emotions passed between them. Feelings they didn't have to express out loud, feelings they understood completely. The computer pinged and a named popped up on the computer screen.

'There's our guy," Hodges said.

"I'll go tell Russell," Morgan said, as Hodges printed off the information. As he handed it to her, she gave him a soft kiss. "I"ll see you later."

"I'll be here," he said and Morgan knew he meant it. Always.

Her heart lightened, she rushed off to find Russell and finish the nightmare of the day before it could get any worse.


End file.
